When Kelsey Cummings burst upon the South Bay high school swim scene last year as a freshman, she made an instant splash by recording standout times in the CIF finals and leading El Segundo to the CIF Southern Section Division III championship.

This season, El Segundo’s year did not result in another CIF title, but Cummings had another stellar season, which culminated in a performance at the CIF Masters Meet that was tops among South Bay girls.

Cummings, the Daily Breeze Girls Swimmer of the Year for the second straight season, showed her versatility in the pool by taking first place in the Pioneer League finals with a time of 2:09.55 in the 200-yard individual medley, which is not one of her normal events. She also took first place in the 500 freestyle, which is one of her best events, with a time of 4:59.81.

“As her coach, you can swim her in anything,” El Segundo co-coach Fotis Davlantis said. “The 200 IM is not her event at all, but she won it.”

Cummings battled through illness to perform at the CIF-SS Division III finals at Mt. San Antonio College. Cummings was not at full strength, but she competed anyway, taking third in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:05.62. She also took third in the 200 freestyle at the Division III finals with a time of 1:52.54.

“I was not feeling great at CIF, and I didn’t feel I did all that well,” Cummings said. “It was disappointing.”

They were not her best times, but they were still among the best times in Division III.

“She almost didn’t swim, but then she did and she did pretty well,” Davlantis said.

Three days later, Cummings had another decision to make: whether to swim in the CIF Masters Meet at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.

“At first, I didn’t want to go to the Masters Meet,” Cummings said. “I wasn’t feeling great. But we had other girls going and a relay team going and the team was excited about it, so I decided to stick it out. I started to look at it as a second chance.”

Cummings said the day before the Masters Meet – which pits all the best swimmers in all divisions against each other – she still was not feeling well. But she said she felt a little better the day of the event, and she felt good once she jumped in the pool and swam around before the competition.

Cummings went on to record her personal-best time in the 200 freestyle, taking third place at 1:50.99. Then in the 500 freestyle, she took more than 10 seconds off the time she had in the CIF-SS Division III finals, clocking in at 4:54.89, which also was good for third place. Both of her finishes were tops among girls in the area.

“She’s a great competitor, and she wanted to show she was better than what she did at the CIF finals,” Davlantis said.

Cummings, who also is a club swimmer for West Coast Swimming, showed the kind of focus and determination that has been her trademark at El Segundo.

“She’s very good at focusing on what she needs to get done,” Davlantis said. “She has a great attitude about it and always wants to do better.”

Last year as a freshman, Cummings took fifth place in the 500 freestyle (5:00.42) and sixth in the 200 freestyle (1:52.50) at her first Masters Meet. She built on that this season.

“She has improved a lot, she’s dropped her times and she just turned 16 this year,” Davlantis said. “She’s doing a lot of great things and has an excellent chance to go to a great swim program in college.”

Cummings just finished her sophomore year, but with a great attitude and work ethic already in place, the future looks bright.

“I never get burned out because I love it and I’m used to it. It’s fun,” Cummings said. “I just want to keep on getting better, improve my times and swim in college.”

Dave Thorpe is the local sports coordinator for the Daily Breeze. He has been covering local sports in the South Bay for the Daily Breeze since 2006. He previously was the sports editor at the Palos Verdes Peninsula News.